For anyone who's concerned about climate change and global warming, I would consider this documentary to be a must see. It's 1 1/4 hours long, but worth every minute. It's the first time I've seen all of these pieces of scientifically based information all in one place.
Update: The video is now here.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Stuff it!
I want a car!
Excuse my momentary lapse into whining. It's been a long day, and it's only half done.
When we moved here, we got rid of our car. It was a good decision, and while I miss it, I don't regret it. We have access to public transit now, and overall it's a very good system. One of the better ones of the various cities we've lived in, but then we live close to downtown, so we've got plenty of choices available to us. A brisk walk gets us to a train station that takes us to most places we need to go. We've got a bus stop practically outside the door to our building that takes us to most other places we need to go. It's cheaper by far, and we never have to worry about parking, insurance and the price of gas.
But I'm starting to really want a car again!
Just to use today as an example of why. I needed to pick up some new filters, etc. for Dh's CPAP. Because the company's office hours are pretty much the same as Dh's, there's no chance of him getting the stuff he needs. I wonder how we'd work it out if I were working out of home full time, too? :-P
The office I need to get to is in the south side of the city. We live in the north side of the city. It's been about 6 months since I've been to this place, so while the girls and I went downtown, I checked the map to verify which bus we needed to transfer to - and what I was finding didn't make any sense. I was *sure* we'd taken a particular route, but according to the map, there was only 1 route going past there during our time frame, and that wasn't it. I called to verify the address (turned out I had an old one), but that didn't change anything. The transit map still said we needed to take a different bus route. The stop was close by, though, so it wasn't any more inconvenient than the other choice, but I still found it odd. We take this alternate route to our location and...
... sure enough, at the stop I could see that the other route I'd remembered (along with almost a half dozen others) did go past this place. No problem. Time spent: about 45 minutes.
The girls and I go into the office, get what we need (took all of 10 minutes), then head to the return bus stop, which was right in front of the building. We had to run for it, with Eldest slipping on some ice and landing on hard along the way, but we did catch a bus right away and Eldest was unhurt.
When we got downtown, we crossed the street to the bus stop that would take us home, though we were going to bypass home to go to the grocery store. The bus at this time of day is supposed to be running every 15 minutes.
It wasn't.
At least 20 minutes later, with no sign of our bus anywhere, we give up and go below ground to the train station (and you just know that, 2 minutes after we left, our bus would've arrived... *L*). It meant more of a walk by taking the train, but we were soon at the grocery store.
Because we didn't have time to stop at home first, we didn't bring our own bags, nor did we have our folding cart that we take with us (even though it's broken). That means we had things like a big bag of flour, a sack of rice, 4L's of milk, and all those other heavy things to carry. We manage to get them to be bus stop, in spite of the fact that the bagger did a rather crappy job and even tore one of the bags all down one side. We had to pause part way, put our bags down on the ground and re-pack some of them. Good thing I'd asked for double bags. :-P So there we are, waiting at the bus stop again for another 20 minutes or so.
Finally, we get home, over 3 hours after we'd left, to do things that took a total of less than an hour.
As for tonight, I'm looking at another 2 hours on the bus total to go someplace that, by car, might take only 10 minutes. Why so long? Well, first I have to go downtown. Then I'll need to run the gauntlet of panhandlers to reach another stop across the street. There's one particular panhandler that seems to have staked that corner out for herself. If the first bus is on time, I've only got a minute to wait for my connection. If not, I've got 10-15 minutes to the next bus. I then take the second bus to a transit centre, where I wait for yet a third bus. Total time, just under an hour.
The trip home, however, will be longer. The return to the transit center is unchanged, and my connection to downtown is usually already there. Once I get downtown, though, I'm dropped off in a different spot. The gauntlet of panhandlers is much bigger by this stop, and I usually get hit up for money several times before reaching my next stop half a block up. Because of the timings of the route, I'll be waiting there for about 20 minutes to half an hour.
All that to get to a place that I could probably walk to in less time, though not while wearing business dress.
It's basically getting to the point were getting a car is a necessity, and transit is not as reliable as it could be. The Suzuki's and Gore's of the world who keep preaching for us peasants to take public transit from the comfort of their jets and diesel coaches can just stuff it up their ears. They're not the ones lugging bags of groceries to and from bus stops, or standing outside with their kids in -20C weather for 45 minutes, waiting for a bus or cab than never comes, or taking 3 hours to do something that should only take 1.
Me; I want a car.
Excuse my momentary lapse into whining. It's been a long day, and it's only half done.
When we moved here, we got rid of our car. It was a good decision, and while I miss it, I don't regret it. We have access to public transit now, and overall it's a very good system. One of the better ones of the various cities we've lived in, but then we live close to downtown, so we've got plenty of choices available to us. A brisk walk gets us to a train station that takes us to most places we need to go. We've got a bus stop practically outside the door to our building that takes us to most other places we need to go. It's cheaper by far, and we never have to worry about parking, insurance and the price of gas.
But I'm starting to really want a car again!
Just to use today as an example of why. I needed to pick up some new filters, etc. for Dh's CPAP. Because the company's office hours are pretty much the same as Dh's, there's no chance of him getting the stuff he needs. I wonder how we'd work it out if I were working out of home full time, too? :-P
The office I need to get to is in the south side of the city. We live in the north side of the city. It's been about 6 months since I've been to this place, so while the girls and I went downtown, I checked the map to verify which bus we needed to transfer to - and what I was finding didn't make any sense. I was *sure* we'd taken a particular route, but according to the map, there was only 1 route going past there during our time frame, and that wasn't it. I called to verify the address (turned out I had an old one), but that didn't change anything. The transit map still said we needed to take a different bus route. The stop was close by, though, so it wasn't any more inconvenient than the other choice, but I still found it odd. We take this alternate route to our location and...
... sure enough, at the stop I could see that the other route I'd remembered (along with almost a half dozen others) did go past this place. No problem. Time spent: about 45 minutes.
The girls and I go into the office, get what we need (took all of 10 minutes), then head to the return bus stop, which was right in front of the building. We had to run for it, with Eldest slipping on some ice and landing on hard along the way, but we did catch a bus right away and Eldest was unhurt.
When we got downtown, we crossed the street to the bus stop that would take us home, though we were going to bypass home to go to the grocery store. The bus at this time of day is supposed to be running every 15 minutes.
It wasn't.
At least 20 minutes later, with no sign of our bus anywhere, we give up and go below ground to the train station (and you just know that, 2 minutes after we left, our bus would've arrived... *L*). It meant more of a walk by taking the train, but we were soon at the grocery store.
Because we didn't have time to stop at home first, we didn't bring our own bags, nor did we have our folding cart that we take with us (even though it's broken). That means we had things like a big bag of flour, a sack of rice, 4L's of milk, and all those other heavy things to carry. We manage to get them to be bus stop, in spite of the fact that the bagger did a rather crappy job and even tore one of the bags all down one side. We had to pause part way, put our bags down on the ground and re-pack some of them. Good thing I'd asked for double bags. :-P So there we are, waiting at the bus stop again for another 20 minutes or so.
Finally, we get home, over 3 hours after we'd left, to do things that took a total of less than an hour.
As for tonight, I'm looking at another 2 hours on the bus total to go someplace that, by car, might take only 10 minutes. Why so long? Well, first I have to go downtown. Then I'll need to run the gauntlet of panhandlers to reach another stop across the street. There's one particular panhandler that seems to have staked that corner out for herself. If the first bus is on time, I've only got a minute to wait for my connection. If not, I've got 10-15 minutes to the next bus. I then take the second bus to a transit centre, where I wait for yet a third bus. Total time, just under an hour.
The trip home, however, will be longer. The return to the transit center is unchanged, and my connection to downtown is usually already there. Once I get downtown, though, I'm dropped off in a different spot. The gauntlet of panhandlers is much bigger by this stop, and I usually get hit up for money several times before reaching my next stop half a block up. Because of the timings of the route, I'll be waiting there for about 20 minutes to half an hour.
All that to get to a place that I could probably walk to in less time, though not while wearing business dress.
It's basically getting to the point were getting a car is a necessity, and transit is not as reliable as it could be. The Suzuki's and Gore's of the world who keep preaching for us peasants to take public transit from the comfort of their jets and diesel coaches can just stuff it up their ears. They're not the ones lugging bags of groceries to and from bus stops, or standing outside with their kids in -20C weather for 45 minutes, waiting for a bus or cab than never comes, or taking 3 hours to do something that should only take 1.
Me; I want a car.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Overheard on the train...
I'm standing on the crowded train, trying to ignore the slurping, squishy noises from the young couple (late teens, possibly early 20's) sucking face in the corner nearby. The train comes to a stop and an announcement is made, stating that there would be a slight delay. Nearby I hear the young man saying to his paramour...
"What does delay mean? Does that mean, like, late?"
"What does delay mean? Does that mean, like, late?"
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Sacrifice
Many years ago, in the early days of our marriage, Dh and I talked of having kids. We both had jobs - he in the military, I in the private sector. He made only slightly more money than I did, though when you consider his was a 24 hour a day lifestyle, one could easily say he was paid far less for what was required of him. We both felt it was very important to have a parent at home with any children we had, and he was more than happy to be that parent if I wanted to leave the home for a job.
In the end, life had other plans for us, and I was the one to stay home. It was after our second was born that I was on a parenting message board and the topic of SAHMs came up. A woman rather indignantly posted the question of why is it that women were always the ones to sacrifice their lives and careers to stay home with the kids while men got to go out and have "real" lives.
I have to admit, I was stunned.
You see, I'd never viewed my staying at home with our girls to be a sacrifice on my part. I was the one who got to spend time with these wonderful, if sometimes difficult, children. I was the one to be there when they spoke their first words, took their first steps, feed themselves with spoon or cup for the first time, and numerous other firsts. I was the one who got to watch their eyes light up when some new understanding dawned on them. I got to watch them grow and play and develop into the interesting, intelligent and thoroughly enjoyable people they are today. Yes, there were difficult time - very difficult! But I knew full well that in today's world, the life I was leading was not a sacrifice, but a privilege.
If anyone made any sacrifices, it was my husband. He was the one who left for weeks or months at a time, to come home to a child that had grown so much, but no longer quite remembered who he was. He was the one who pushed and wheedled his way into a college course that technically was closed to new admissions so that he could get a job in the IT industry, after months of being rejected for even the lowest of jobs, sometimes because the companies needed to meet their "quotas" of minorities and females, and as a white male, he just wasn't considered (we didn't know at the time that he was Metis). He was the one who took sometimes less than stellar positions and commuting for many miles, so that we could pay the bills and put food on the table, even when it meant moving again and again.
He was the one who missed out on all those firsts on the girls' lives, because he was at sea, or sitting in an office with people he didn't necessarily want to be with, doing something he didn't necessarily want to be doing. It's not that he didn't like his job - he loves working with computers - but that given the choice between going to work and saying home with me and the kids, he'd rather have been at home.
If anyone made any sacrifices, it was my husband, not me. Especially today, when his health is questionable, he continues to work outside the home because he can bring in an income we can live on, while I continue my role as the SAHM as we home school.
In today's world, it's rare to find one parent, of either gender, at home with the kids. With more and more two income families, children are instead going to someone else for the bulk of the day, whether for childcare or schooling. When asked, I've read that anywhere from 63% to over 80% of women would gladly quit their jobs and stay home with their children, if they felt that option were available. In reading that, I found myself wondering if anyone bothered to ask the men, because most men I know would love to do that same! It turns out, I'm not the only one curious about that. Today in the news, I'm reading about a study that found men were just as likely as women to quite their jobs for family reasons. This is no surprise to me!
It saddens me to think that staying home is viewed as a sacrifice - as if it were some sort of terrible thing to be with our children. I've certainly had people try to convince me of that very thing, unable to understand that I actually *like* being home with my kids. I think it's time more thought was given to the ones who are truly making the sacrifice - the husbands (and, increasingly, wives) who leave hearth and home to work a job so that parents like me can have the privilege of being full time parents to our children.
Kudos to the every day heroes that make this possible.
In the end, life had other plans for us, and I was the one to stay home. It was after our second was born that I was on a parenting message board and the topic of SAHMs came up. A woman rather indignantly posted the question of why is it that women were always the ones to sacrifice their lives and careers to stay home with the kids while men got to go out and have "real" lives.
I have to admit, I was stunned.
You see, I'd never viewed my staying at home with our girls to be a sacrifice on my part. I was the one who got to spend time with these wonderful, if sometimes difficult, children. I was the one to be there when they spoke their first words, took their first steps, feed themselves with spoon or cup for the first time, and numerous other firsts. I was the one who got to watch their eyes light up when some new understanding dawned on them. I got to watch them grow and play and develop into the interesting, intelligent and thoroughly enjoyable people they are today. Yes, there were difficult time - very difficult! But I knew full well that in today's world, the life I was leading was not a sacrifice, but a privilege.
If anyone made any sacrifices, it was my husband. He was the one who left for weeks or months at a time, to come home to a child that had grown so much, but no longer quite remembered who he was. He was the one who pushed and wheedled his way into a college course that technically was closed to new admissions so that he could get a job in the IT industry, after months of being rejected for even the lowest of jobs, sometimes because the companies needed to meet their "quotas" of minorities and females, and as a white male, he just wasn't considered (we didn't know at the time that he was Metis). He was the one who took sometimes less than stellar positions and commuting for many miles, so that we could pay the bills and put food on the table, even when it meant moving again and again.
He was the one who missed out on all those firsts on the girls' lives, because he was at sea, or sitting in an office with people he didn't necessarily want to be with, doing something he didn't necessarily want to be doing. It's not that he didn't like his job - he loves working with computers - but that given the choice between going to work and saying home with me and the kids, he'd rather have been at home.
If anyone made any sacrifices, it was my husband, not me. Especially today, when his health is questionable, he continues to work outside the home because he can bring in an income we can live on, while I continue my role as the SAHM as we home school.
In today's world, it's rare to find one parent, of either gender, at home with the kids. With more and more two income families, children are instead going to someone else for the bulk of the day, whether for childcare or schooling. When asked, I've read that anywhere from 63% to over 80% of women would gladly quit their jobs and stay home with their children, if they felt that option were available. In reading that, I found myself wondering if anyone bothered to ask the men, because most men I know would love to do that same! It turns out, I'm not the only one curious about that. Today in the news, I'm reading about a study that found men were just as likely as women to quite their jobs for family reasons. This is no surprise to me!
It saddens me to think that staying home is viewed as a sacrifice - as if it were some sort of terrible thing to be with our children. I've certainly had people try to convince me of that very thing, unable to understand that I actually *like* being home with my kids. I think it's time more thought was given to the ones who are truly making the sacrifice - the husbands (and, increasingly, wives) who leave hearth and home to work a job so that parents like me can have the privilege of being full time parents to our children.
Kudos to the every day heroes that make this possible.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Apparently, I'm a socialist...
You are Catherine the Great.  You are very intelligent and a socialist. It is very important to you that all people be treated equally in a society. You are able to fully comprehend social problems and you are outspoken when it comes to dealing with them. Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com |
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
a plug
I just have to share this link. Tetes a Claques is one of the funniest sites! If you don't know French, it's well worth having someone who can interpret it for you. The style of animation is rather bizarre - I've never seen it anywhere else - and the humor is gleefully irreverent. I think "Move Your Body" is my favorite now, though Le Camping is still right up there. Les Cadeaux de Noel and Les ti-papoutes are at the top of my list, too. Oh! And La Secretaire!!! What a hoot!
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